Technical Field
The present invention relates to a suitable inverter terminal block unaffected by vibration under an environment of occurrence of the vibration in the case of installing an inverter used for a vehicle etc. in a motor case.
Background Art
An electric vehicle or a hybrid electric vehicle generally includes a motor and an inverter between a battery and wheels in order to drive the wheels by electric power accumulated in the battery.
The electric power accumulated in the battery is converted by the inverter of an inverter device etc. and is supplied to the motor and rotates the motor, and rotation of the motor is transmitted to the wheels and drives the wheels.
Conventionally, the inverter and the motor were mounted in separate places of the vehicle and a terminal of the inverter was connected to a terminal of the motor using a wire harness.
On the other hand, a structure of integrating an inverter with a motor for the purpose of cost reduction and miniaturization of an electric driving system from a battery to wheels has been proposed recently (Patent Reference 1 or 2).
Invention Described in Patent Reference 1 or 2
FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram of an invention of integrating an inverter with a motor described in Patent Reference 1 or 2, and a power receiving box 100C is placed on a motor case 100 for accommodating a three-phase AC motor (an induction motor or a synchronous machine), and motor input terminals 100T for receiving three-phase AC electric power are attached to the power receiving box 100C and on the other hand, inverter output terminals 200T are attached to an inverter case 200 of the inverter for receiving a DC from a DC power source placed on the other part of a vehicle and converting the DC into an three-phase AC. Then, connecting conductors L are used for supplying the three-phase AC electric power of the inverter from the inverter output terminals 200T to the motor input terminals 100T of the power receiving box 100C.
Merit of Invention Described in Patent Reference 1 or 2
A structure shown in FIG. 4 is assembled by separately assembling the motor case 100 and the inverter case 200 and then installing the inverter case 200 in the vicinity of the motor case 100 and also electrically connecting the motor input terminals 100T to the inverter output terminals 200T by the connecting conductors L. Thus, the inverter case 200 and the motor case 100 have the structure which is assembled and manufactured as separate modules and is electrically connected by the connecting conductors L at the time of integration, so that manufacture is easy and cost can be reduced.
Demerit of Invention Described in Patent Reference 1 or 2
However, in such a configuration, a vibration phase difference between the inverter and the motor by vibration of the motor itself or vibration of a vehicle body at the time of driving is applied to a connector and the connector may be damaged. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a connector capable of withstanding such vibration.
Then, a connector described in Patent Reference 3 is disclosed as the connector capable of withstanding such vibration.    Patent Reference 1: JP-A-5-219607    Patent Reference 2: JP-A-2004-312853    Patent Reference 3: JP-A-2007-280913
Configuration of Terminal Block Described in Patent Reference 3
A terminal block described in Patent Reference 3 is means for connecting a motor input terminal to an inverter output terminal, and is characterized in that an inverter cabinet and an inverter side terminal and a motor cabinet and a motor side terminal are included and while the motor side terminal is fixed and attached to the motor cabinet, the inverter side terminal is attached to the inverter cabinet through a vibration absorber.
Merit of Terminal Block Described in Patent Reference 3
Since the terminal of one device is attached to the cabinet of its device through the vibration absorber thus, even when vibration by a phase difference is applied to one device and the other device, its vibration is absorbed by the vibration absorber, so that an extra load is not applied to a connector connection and adverse influences of damage etc. can be prevented.
Problem of Terminal Block Described in Patent Reference 3
In the terminal block described in Patent Reference 3, metal materials of a bus bar etc. are used variously in order to ensure continuity performance. However, since rigidity of a bus bar member or a terminal is high, this terminal block has a problem that when the terminal block is assembled to a vibration generation region, the bus bar member or the terminal is broken or bent to be deformed by a subsequent long period of use and sealing performance decreases.
The invention has been implemented in order to solve the problem described above, and an object of the invention is to provide a terminal block resistant to vibration occurring between a motor side connecting terminal and an inverter side connecting terminal, the terminal block with good waterproof and oilproof properties, capable of sufficiently exerting a sealing effect on vibration even in the case of great variations due to assembly tolerances of a motor and an inverter.